Chanel and Celine top client I-Ping Soong on her love for fashion

I-Ping Soong, better known to some on Instagram by her decidedly unconventional handle @plumtr3, is one of the most fashionable women in Hong Kong. (You wouldn’t know it from the self-deprecating comments she makes throughout our shoot on a sunny Sunday at the Kimpton Tsim Sha Tsui hotel though.) She’s also one of the city’s most discerning luxury customers: a VIC who’s been invited to attend some of the most memorable shows in recent fashion history, from Phoebe Philo’s iconic spring/summer 2017 show for Celine to Matthieu Blazy’s debut cruise outing for Chanel earlier this year. The Singaporean lawyer, mother of two, off-duty fashionista and – as she continues to remind me – “amateur” social media user, is adamant that she is not a real “content creator”. Far from it, in fact, she says. It’s a testament to how under-the-radar she aims to be that she chose a totally random and unassuming handle, though, as she jokes, “If anyone can tell me how to monetise my Instagram account, that’d be great.” Soong would certainly reject the label of “influencer”, too. Even so, her influence is undeniable in my book – far more impactful than the typical KOL promoting a gifted bag with a handful of hashtags. It’s also refreshingly grounded in reality, earned with honest commentary and backed with her own authentic, considered purchases. And even through her more unpolished, unprofessional videos, her enthusiasm for fashion is clear. Being on the mere “periphery of fashion” through content creation, as she describes it, is a privilege in and of itself. “The customer is really small and knowing a little bit more about the industry makes me realise how much more there is behind it,” she explains. “It’s not just the customer who walks into the boutique and sees the glossy facade. Behind it you have the buyer [up at] 3am compiling Excel files, the CRM [customer relationship manager] looking at data and staying in the office until 10pm. There’s so much we don’t see.” It was over a decade ago when Soong began documenting her outfit photos for fun online, if only as some form of frivolous escapism – “my daily life is very boring,” she says wryly, “my content is an illusion.” And, she clarifies, “That was with my kids. It was also something I’d do with my good friend who worked at old Celine when it was still under Phoebe Philo. That’s how it all started.” While Soong may claim not to live a glamorous lifestyle, her wardrobe begs to differ, a tightly-curated collection of cherished luxury items she has spent years saving for. On the day of our shoot, she casually brings along two of the most fabulous pieces from Chanel’s most recent Métiers d’Art collection: a red-and-white fringed number and a stiff-collared leopard-print shacket that spells “Chanel” down the buttons; along with an old Balenciaga denim blazer from one of her other favourite designers, Demna, and some Phoebe Philo jewellery. While she generously asks for my opinion every now and then, it goes without saying that she’ll be styling herself. Soong knows what suits her well, and has the savings to back it up. Beyond her self-styling, what Soong really shows off on Instagram is a deep appreciation for fashion artistry and invaluable insights into how the industry works. The customer may just be one cog in the greater machine, but as the famous adage goes, they are always right – and Soong’s candid sharing of insider knowledge, from how sales assistants work to private fitting and try-on sessions of the season’s latest and hottest fashions, is a perspective all of us interested in luxury can benefit from. “I have an authentic voice because I know my own point of view,” she says frankly. “But can I, do I speak for other people?” That’s quite the balanced take considering how fashion attracts a sort of commentary where clothes turn into content, and know-it-alls quickly dismiss collections they deem boring or irrelevant. But for Soong, who also admires long-time critics like Vanessa Friedman and Cathy Horyn, there are still respected voices out there that stand out above the noise. “Another one who would say she’s not a content creator is Nadine Kasuga,” Soong adds. With her own sizeable following, Kasuga similarly shares candid Reels talking about her curated collection of luxury items – especially Hermès Birkins – that she’s acquired over the years. “It’s people standing on the periphery of fashion, looking at it from afar, from the lens of a consumer, and who create content, but mainly about expressing our point of view,” Soong tells me. “Maybe you need to coin a term. Maybe that’s your article.” It seems the niche Soong and others have carved out for themselves falls somewhere in between being a diarist, collector and connoisseur where the glossy veneer of our iPhone screens and the real world converge. I’d call her a tastemaker not for the masses, but for those rarefied few who have had the privilege of getting hands-on experience with buying and wearing high-end fashion out and about – genuine taste that can only be accumulated over time, and some might say, with age. Though Soong harbours some cynicism about the longevity of fashion’s recent embrace of older women – designers like Blazy and Miuccia Prada have made waves for casting older models in their shows – she does believe it comes from a good place. “Perhaps [luxury brands] realise a lot of their customers are from this demographic too, so it resonates with customers to see older models walk the runway, and they look really, really good doing it,” she says more optimistically. “From a consumer perspective: long may this trend continue.” So often we find ourselves enamoured with the spectacle of what goes down a runway that we rarely think about how those clothes may translate to the end customer in real life – something Blazy also seemed to allude to in his most recent couture show, which featured a woman’s voice bluntly reciting her day-to-day litany of chores and responsibilities as the soundtrack. That’s where Soong comes in – looking at luxury as something to be worn and lived in, not just wowed by. She is, at the end of the day, an everyday working woman – albeit one with a little more budgeting and purchasing power than the average Jane – whose unfiltered perspective as a regular customer is surely at least as valuable as that of the celebrity who might only wear a look for a one-off red carpet appearance. Soong praises Blazy in particular for welcoming a more inclusive target audience with his Chanel collections and points out how “the new Chanel woman is also a man”. She’s a fan of practical, wearable fashions that look as great on an older woman’s body as they would on a young supermodel, and that you wouldn’t struggle to put on every day, but would look no less fabulous in. That’s something she might owe to sharing her passion for fashion with her two sons. “My oldest, he’s 18 now and much more Hedi Slimane: slim fits, rocker chic, grungy vibe,” she says with a chuckle. “Anything a mother says to a teenager is guaranteed to be 100 per cent wrong, so I’m the last person to give my son fashion advice. He has a wonderful sense of style he developed himself, and I take style advice from him.” Both mother and son are fans of Demna’s Balenciaga, which speaks to the unisex nature of his designs as well as the “wit” Soong says she also sees in Blazy’s Bottega Veneta. As far as Soong is concerned, fashion has already given her more than enough friendships and memories to last a lifetime – though she does have one more wish. “If I could go to one more Matthieu Blazy show, I would be a happy woman,” she says. That’s the kind of hard-won customer loyalty that can’t be bought.

Chanel and Celine top client I-Ping Soong on her love for fashion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Singaporean fashionista is a big fan of Matthieu Blazy – both at Bottega Veneta and Chanel – and of Demna’s Balenciaga

The Singaporean fashionista is a big fan of Matthieu Blazy – both at Bottega Veneta and Chanel – and of Demna’s Balenciaga